


Lightening at North Fork

by Merfilly



Category: The Rifleman (TV)
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:27:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23158513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: After the events of "Dark Day at North Fork", Micah has thoughts on it all.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5
Collections: Wayback Exchange 2020





	Lightening at North Fork

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kingstoken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingstoken/gifts).



> Dear kingstoken, I hope this meets your wishes. And thank you, for giving me reason to revisit an old Saturday habit of Westerns.

"Suppose I'm going to need to get the body back to town," Micah said, reluctantly. He was still having his own reaction to everything that had gone down. It wasn't that Lucas had handled Solby all on his own bothering him. It wasn't just how stiff-necked Lucas had been about the whole thing, and Mark backing his father up just to appear strong in Lucas's eyes.

No, Micah had to admit that the moment that had fully done him in was when Lucas collapsed after the fact, shaking and weak. All of that pride, all that skill he'd practiced so hard for, and Lucas really hadn't been so certain that he could do it.

That broke something inside of Micah. Lucas had stood by him so often, and Micah had not pushed the point of him, or a deputy, staying on hand for the entire affair. He should have, though, rather than force Lucas to go so far to prove himself.

Lucas paused, hand still on Mark, and turned in his general direction, firming his shoulders. "Could rig up the buckboard, leave your horse here, and give you a hand?"

"Mark, get him in the house, and then you come help me with the buckboard," Micah said, making himself be firm. "I don't mind riding in and back again today!"

"You — "

"Had nothing hard to do this day, and you have done enough. Unless you prefer to set the town to wagging tongues and making a myth of you that draws every gunslinger in the state to us?" Micah said, thinking as quick on his feet as he could to give Lucas a reason he'd agree with.

"Alright, old friend." Lucas stopped pressing the point, letting Mark guide him inside to soup, and whatever stronger stuff might be in the house, as he'd half-jokingly asked earlier.

Micah walked over to start hitching the team, joined soon by the boy. "You're growing into a fine young man, Mark," he told the boy. "You keep a good eye on Lucas. It wasn't an easy thing, your father did, to face a man hungerin' for his death when he can't even see."

"I know, sir," Mark told him. "I'll keep up with him, be there. I'm just glad he let me be the one to help him figure out the way of it."

Micah nodded, trying to keep it to himself that he should have been the one, that Mark shouldn't have had to step up so much. They rigged the buckboard, and then Micah dragged the body over and up into it.

"See to my horse, son, and I'll be back before dark, I believe."

"Yes sir!"

* * *

Micah came back, good to his word, before full dark, and set about getting the team unhitched. He was halfway through when a thump on the back corner of the buckboard caught his ears. He looked up to see Lucas had come out, navigated the yard, and made it to him before he'd known it at all.

"Getting about just fine, aren't you?" Micah asked rather than let on he'd been startled, just a bit.

"Remember the yard clear as a picture. Set about counting steps to things on that first day, so Mark wasn't so tied down with me," Lucas answered. "Any trouble?"

"Not a mite." Micah finished his tasks, glad Lucas stayed still, but then, Lucas wouldn't want to bump him.

"Heading back in?" Lucas asked.

Micah could have blessed him in that moment, had he been a preacher. He'd wanted an opening, and now he had it.

"If you don't mind much, I'd like to take a cup of coffee maybe, or finish off that soup," he told his friend.

Lucas chuckled at that. "He tried," he said, referring to the soup. "Coffee is more likely to set well for when you do ride back."

"Hmph. That soup was just fine for me," Micah avowed. He gave Lucas a wide enough berth walking back that the man didn't feel crowded. He kept his mouth shut on all the thoughts, on needing to ask if Lucas really was alright now that Solby was dead.

Inside, there were pleasantries to make with Mark, praising the soup again once he had a cup of it. He sat at the small table, not commenting on the lantern that normally sat there being missing. Lucas sat too, and both men had a cup of coffee shortly.

Mark left them to go check on the animals, and Micah let the door close fully before looking at Lucas.

"What you did today? I don't know another man that could have handled themselves so well."

Was it enough? Would it get this proud man to open up on the hardship at all?

Maybe, if that frown and fiddling with his cup was anything to go by.

"When he came around, Micah, I knew I couldn't call out. Couldn't risk Mark getting caught up in it, even if I know you'd've lent your guns to it," Lucas admitted. "I was certain I couldn't get the rifle up, not when he had the drop and was behind me.

"So I made out as clumsy, with the bowl, to change his line of fire and give me a chance."

Micah made an assuring noise at that. "Quick thinking. And you managed it. He can't hurt anyone else, and that kind just can't learn to move on peacefully."

"No, they can't." Lucas took a swallow of the coffee, then turned his face more in Micah's direction. "I wasn't certain if I'd managed it. And then you both were there, and it set in. That I had, and I just didn't quite know how to handle it, Micah."

"I could see that, Lucas. And it worried me some, but you're a strong man. You seem like you have a grip on it now. Just, that kind of thing might have a few things to say in the night."

Lucas grimaced a bit and nodded. "Hope to keep that quiet, so Mark doesn't have to cope with it."

Micah hesitated, then decided to bull on. "Wouldn't mind staying over, to be honest, just in case Solby laid in with someone else to come check on the job he intended."

"He worked alone," came the weak reply, "but that might keep Mark from worrying over you riding in, as close to dark as it has to be."

Micah smiled, not that Lucas could see it. "Then let's make sure the boy has nothing to worry about. I'll catch you up on the town news until we think we can sleep."

"Sounds like a good plan."


End file.
